Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly, and the Making of the Modern Middle East

Based on four years of intensive primary document research, Lawrence in Arabiadefinitively overturns received wisdom on how the modern Middle East was formed. Sweeping in its action, keen in its portraiture, acid in its condemnation of the destruction wrought by European colonial plots, this is a book that brilliantly captures the way in which the folly of the past creates the anguish of the present.

The Far Pavilions

When The Far Pavilions was first published 19 years ago, it moved the critic Edmund Fuller to write this: "Were Miss Kaye to produce no other book, The Far Pavilions might stand as a lasting accomplishment in a single work comparable to Margaret Mitchell's achievement in Gond With the Wind." From its beginning in the foothills of the towering Himalayas, M. M. Kaye's masterwork is a vast, rich, and vibrant tapestry of love and war that ranks with the greatest panoramic sagas of modern fiction.

The Story of India

Michael Wood weaves a spellbinding narrative out of the 10,000-year history of India. Home today to more than a fifth of the world's population, the subcontinent gave birth to the oldest and most influential civilization on Earth, to four world religions, and to the world's largest democracy. Now, as India bids to become a global giant, Michael sets out to trace the roots of India's present in the incredible riches of her past.

The Foundations of Western Civilization

What is Western Civilization? According to Professor Noble, it is "much more than human and political geography," encompassing myriad forms of political and institutional structures - from monarchies to participatory republics - and its own traditions of political discourse. It involves choices about who gets to participate in any given society and the ways in which societies have resolved the tension between individual self-interest and the common good.

Mike Keith says:"Highly recommended"

Publisher's Summary

A unique record of the last 17 years of the British Raj, as seen through the eyes of a young officer of the Indian Political Service. Taken from Norval Mitchell's own original memoir, written in 1975, his son, David, carefully edited the work to produce an account of a man for whom improving the lot of the masses, those quiet people of India, met with ever-increasing frustration by the "dead hand" of British and Indian bureaucracy.

Ths book is somewhat inaptly named. It should have been titled "The Quietened People of India". The author details how British used draconian measures to contain freedom movement in India. He tries to dilute the ramifications of Churchill's "scorched earth" policy during second world war which lead to the death of 3 million Indians due to famine induced by it in rice belt. Once expected a more honest description of the Bengal famine in 1942 from somebody who was posted in the same area. But you would be sorely disappointed if you expeced truth from this apologist of the British imperialism. The author details with a smug rectitude how he punished the rebellious Indians by caning them on their backs and butts (Amnesty, are you listening here!) but had a doctor monitor their physical condition to withstand such punishment before he actually had it administered. He wants to feel good about this consideration for the people at the receiving end of his atrocity. He also documents how he had the properties of the Indians, participating civil disobedience, confiscated for not paying the arbitrary fines imposed on them for participating in freedom movement. In many cases , these properties consisted of few utensils, family silks and little trinkets of gold and silver and some grain. Majority of Indians were too poor afford to pay the hefty fines imposed on them for demanding self-rule. He remains silent about Churchill's deliberate policy of depriving Indians of the food grains which other countries were willing to send for free when the news of British induced famine reached those countries. The author has the penchant to describe robbery from natives as willing contribution from them for a war they did not start but had to pay immense price for in human and financial terms. A book like this, full of retarted conceit, patronizing generalizations and moral smugness, could have only come from the pen of a true blue Brit. An important memoir of atrocities nonetheless.